Spanish Questions
Spanish Questions
In Spanish, forming questions involves specific structures and question words. Questions can be categorized into yes/no questions and information questions.
1. Yes/No Questions
These questions are designed to get a simple affirmative or negative response. They are often formed by changing the intonation or by placing the verb before the subject.
Structure: Start with the verb, followed by the subject and the rest of the sentence.
Example: ¿Tienes hambre? (Are you hungry?)
Example: ¿Vamos al cine? (Shall we go to the cinema?)
Inversion: In formal contexts, you might invert the subject and verb.
Example: ¿Estás cansado? (Are you tired?)
2. Information Questions
These questions seek specific information and start with question words.
Question Words:
¿Qué? (What?)
Example: ¿Qué haces? (What are you doing?)
¿Quién? (Who?)
Example: ¿Quién es tu profesor? (Who is your teacher?)
¿Dónde? (Where?)
Example: ¿Dónde vives? (Where do you live?)
¿Cuándo? (When?)
Example: ¿Cuándo es la fiesta? (When is the party?)
¿Por qué? (Why?)
Example: ¿Por qué estudias español? (Why are you studying Spanish?)
¿Cómo? (How?)
Example: ¿Cómo estás? (How are you?)
¿Cuánto? (How much?) / ¿Cuántos? (How many?)
Example: ¿Cuánto cuesta? (How much does it cost?)
Example: ¿Cuántos libros tienes? (How many books do you have?)
3. Tips
Accents: Question words have an accent mark (e.g., qué, cómo) to differentiate them from their non-question forms.
Punctuation: Spanish uses both an opening and closing question mark (¿ and ?).
Understanding these structures enhances your ability to gather information and communicate effectively in Spanish.
